Quicksilver and Light
by pussycatwithattitude
Summary: "But it also fills me with wonder." Bates lifted their hands and they both watched lovingly as their fingers danced the same, practiced rhythm and entwined delicately. "That an old peg-leg like me should find himself married to a creature made of quicksilver and light." S3 Christmas Special.


**This is just an extension of the deleted scene from the Series 3 script books. It has been sitting in my documents for a while. The majority of it follows the scripts, however I have veered off slightly in the end and implied a very different direction that Series 4 could have gone.**

**Quicksilver and Light **

Anna had only just regained control of her breath as she headed towards the exit of the ballroom. The dance had finished some time ago, however she had noticed her husband staring at her intently ever since, and she had sought some time alone with him at last. Lady Mary had needed her assistance for a little while, having felt slightly jaded after the dance, and conceding defeat to her husband and her maid that an earlier trip home could be on the cards.

John led the way as husband and wife exited the ballroom. The noise of the Ghillies Ball could be heard faintly now through the closed door as the two stood in the dimly lit servants corridor, although whilst the dance was slowly coming to an end for the evening, the two of them knew that for some of the servants, the night may still have some nasty surprises.

"Let's get away before we have to carry him upstairs," Anna snickered light-heartedly, her hand coming away from the door handle as Bates turned around to marvel at his wife. Anna had seen this look a thousand times, although for some reason, this time she struggled to comprehend its nature. There was a mysterious look in her husband's eyes. "Why are you being funny?" She asked almost in a whisper. "You're not angry with me, are you?"

Anna watched as her husband's eyes widened ever so briefly. "Angry? Good God, no." He quickly sought to reassure her.

Anna was reassured instantly. She felt her heart start to race, and realising they were alone in the corridor whilst everyone else was enjoying the last of the ball, she stepped towards her husband and took his hand. Her fingertips stroked over the back of his hand and the corners of her mouth rose to match her eyes. "I hope I haven't upset you, Mr MacBates." Bates smiled back at her sorely poor attempt at mimicking Mr McCree. Her voice then softened. "I thought the sight of me reeling would make you smile."

His heart ached at the thought of her learning to reel just to see him smile. Not for the first time during this trip to the highlands he wondered what he had done to deserve such a treasure in his life.

"It does make me smile," John insisted. "But it also fills me with wonder."

Anna tilted her head to one side. "How so?"

Bates lifted their hands and they both watched lovingly as their fingers danced the same, practiced rhythm and entwined delicately. John spoke so softly and so deeply that his first couple of words choked in his throat. Anna felt herself being moved to tears before he had even finished.

"That an old peg-leg like me should find himself married to a creature made of quicksilver and light."

Anna was about to open her mouth and chastise him as she often would whenever he spoke about himself in such a dismissive light, but a noise from above them on the stairs caused them to pull slightly apart. Their hands dropped to their side with practiced ease. They both looked up and saw Lady Rose coming down the stairs. Bates breathed a short sigh of relief – either relief, or the breath he had not realised he had been holding – and smiled at the young lady, straightening himself up instinctively. Anna looked up at him every other second.

Rose was delighted to see the Bateses and clapped her hands together excitedly, "Isn't she terrific, Bates?" The excitable blonde came to stand directly in front of them. She smiled warmly at her new friends and allies. "She said you'd never believe she could do it."

John found himself surprised. He quickly glanced around at his wife, and then back to Lady Rose. "She was wrong, m'lady." He said very matter-of-factly. There was a sharpness to his voice that caused Anna to turn her head around and look up at him with a frown.

Rose was watching the two of them intently. She tried to hide the smile that threatened to give away her admiration for the two of them as she read the awe and wonder present in Bates' eyes.

Bates smiled and continued promptly, and restrainedly, first addressing Lady Rose, "There's nothing I don't believe she could do." And then turning to look at Anna. "Nothing at all."

Anna felt the back of her throat catch. She wanted to swallow it down. She wanted to reach up and kiss him senseless. She wanted to show him just how much she loved him. Their picnic earlier in their "holiday" of sorts had only intensified her desire for her husband.

"Good. I shall have pleasure telling Mummy I've done something right."

Anna shook herself from her thoughts as Rose spoke excitedly, and the lady's maid turned to smile at the young girl. Rose took this as her cue to leave them again and touched Anna's shoulder briefly as she brushed past them and back through into the ballroom.

Once the door was completely shut, Anna turned back around to her husband and offered him a smile. He reached down to take her hand again and she looked down, breathing out loudly. She considered their hands and briefly wished they were back at Downton, and back at the cottage, where she could lead him upstairs at this moment without the fear of impropriety or losing their jobs.

"Oh, that reminds me," Anna started, the thought of the cottage stirring thoughts of her return home the following day. "Lady Mary wants to leave in the morning, so I may not see you for a day or two."

John felt his face falling as she spoke. They mourned the lost time for a couple of moments, John gently squeezed her hand for the briefest of seconds, before his solemn expression turned into one of daring expectation.

"Do you think I could sneak into the maids' quarters tonight?"

Anna would have admonished her husband had she not been intensely considering the option of sneaking into the men's quarters. John could read her like a book and his eyes darkened. Anna promptly shook her head to push the thought from both of their minds and disentangled their hands. Her palm came to lie flat on his chest.

"I'm afraid not. But you know what my mother says?"

This time it was for John to tilt his head slightly.

"No. What does your mother say?"

Anna grinned seductively. She could see her husband hanging on her every word, and not for the first time in their lives, she admired the way she could bring her giant of a husband who had so much experience of the world to her mercy.

"That it's always nice to leave something for another time."

She grinned.

He grinned.

Anna lifted both her hands and took his face, kissing him sweetly. John sought to deepen the kiss and Anna complied with his request. His hand wrapped around her neck and pulled her closer. Her hairstyle tonight made it easy for him to run his fingers through her blonde curls, a feeling he had missed so desperately during their time away. At least when travelling with the Crawley family to London they were now permitted a room to share. Scotland had not afforded them this luxury.

They had made use of stolen moments in the courtyard, careful to keep their desires under control while under the watch of a new household and new set of servants. Their kisses had never gone beyond chaste in the house or the courtyard though – excluding their picnic outing. But seeing her dance had unleashed something inside of Bates, and Anna could feel his desire building with each desperate second their kiss lasted. She knew she had to temper it down for both their sakes. Anyone could walk back through that door at any moment. Heaven forbid one of the Duneagle staff come through. Heaven forbid Miss O'Brien were to catch them like this. They would likely never hear the end of it.

With that thought in mind, Anna begrudgingly started to pull away from her husband. Just in time apparently, for the door behind them opened once more just as they had put some respectable distance between them.

They both turned and looked as a wretched, green-looking Mr Molesley appeared. Neither of them were surprised at his current state considering how they had left him in the hall moments earlier. He stumbled slightly into the wall and Anna instinctively reached forward to steady the poor man.

"Are you all right, Mr Molesley?" Her hand came to rest on his shoulder, although the valet did not even look up.

"_All right _is not the first phrase that springs to mind."

Anna found no offence as Mr Molesley continued past them both and up the staircase to the servants quarters. She turned to look at her husband whose lips had curved into an unmistakable quirk.

It was not long before she joined him and they both fell into easy laughter.

It lasted for a few moments though, until Anna stopped her husband with a hand to his shoulder, "We shouldn't really laugh."

"But... here you are laughing." John teased her.

Anna grinned once more but then turned serious – as she was prone to do, John thought with a proud, warming feeling in his heart. "But you will check on him before you go to bed?"

"I will," John smiled. He took her hand and sighed deeply. "I'm going to miss you."

Anna reached up and touched his cheek. "It will only be a couple of days. We have weathered worse."

"Are you sure we should take your mother's advice?"

Anna recognised the devilish glint in his eyes. She knew it too well having spent the last year becoming very well acquainted in the cottage. His hand rested on her hip, his thumb circling through her light, white dress. She knew where this could lead.

"_Mr Bates_!"

Anna admonished him. John knew when he was defeated. Whilst he knew that Anna wanted to spend the night with him as much as he did her, he also appreciated her professionalism and would never look to put her in an awkward position with their colleagues. Or worse risk their jobs.

He thought he would chance his look with a more reasonable request, "One more kiss? To take with me?"

There was a time when those words had nearly been enough to crush her. But this time they were a lot happier with the realisation that it would only be a couple of days until their reunion.

Anna kissed him for the last time during this trip. As she had earlier, she took his face in her hands and poured her love into the act. When she reluctantly pulled away she smiled, "Until another time."

John accepted his lot and turned on his heel. His Lordship would be retiring soon, no doubt, and he wanted to be prepared if he was to catch Anna before bed. He doubted it considering the unplanned departure tomorrow and the extensive and hurried packing it would mean for his wife. But he could try.

Anna watched him go, her heart already longing for the time they could be home again. It would not be long, she told herself. She had made a promise to leave certain matters for another time, and she had no intention of breaking that promise. But there was something else she had been hoping to tell him, in the privacy that Duneagle simply could never afford them. It was not a matter she wanted to risk being interrupted over.

She supposed she would also have to wait another time to tell him she had every suspicion she was expecting their first child.


End file.
